Pope Benedict XVI arrives for his weekly general audience at the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday Feb. 13, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI is telling the faithful in his first public appearance since announcing his resignation that he stepping down for “the good of the church.” Benedict received a lengthy standing ovation when he entered the packed audience hall Wednesday. He was interrupted by applause by the throngs of people, many of whom had tears in their eyes. At the start of his audience, he repeated in Italian what he had told cardinals Monday in Latin: that he simply didn’t have the strength to continue. He said “I did this in full liberty for the good of the church.” (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has raised the possibility that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15 to 20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Saturday, Feb. 16, that Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation.

Any change to the law itself would have to be approved by the pope before he resigns.

But if Vatican officials determine that the matter is just a question of interpreting the existing law, “it is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy” to move up the start of the conclave, Lombardi said.

The 15 to 20 day waiting period is in place to allow time for all cardinals who don’t live in Rome to arrive, under the usual circumstance of a pope dying. But in this case the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end Feb. 28, with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part, Lombardi said.

The date of the conclave’s start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31.

In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed by Sunday, March 17, because of the strong tradition to hold installation Mass on a Sunday. Given the tight time frame, speculation has mounted that some arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow.

Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled since Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, by announcing that he would retire, the first pontiff in 600 years to abdicate rather than stay in office until death.

“In this moment we are not prepared,” said Cardinal Franc Rode, the former head of the Vatican’s office for religious orders who will vote in the conclave.

“We have not been able to make predictions, strategies, plans, candidates. It is too early, but we will get there. In two or three weeks things will be put in place.”

Benedict appeared in good form on Saturday for some of his final audiences. He met with the Guatemalan president, a group of visiting Italian bishops, and had his farewell audience with Italian Premier Mario Monti.

“He was in good condition,” Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told reporters afterward.

“He didn’t seem tired, rather smiling, lively — and happy and very clear in his decision to resign.”

Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan and a leading contender to succeed Benedict, said several of the visiting bishops noted at the end of their audience that they were the last group of bishops to be received by the pope. “‘This responsibility means you have to become a light for all,'” he quoted Benedict as saying.

Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict’s final public audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people had requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 27.

He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home — a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls.

That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said.

He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass. Like many open questions about the end of Benedict’s papacy, Lombardi said, both issues simply haven’t been resolved.

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